 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
The Chernihiv musical instruments factory was a factory founded to make stringed instruments in Ukraine. It is named after Soviet politician Pavel Postyshev.
The Chernihiv musical instruments factory opened in 1933. Initially it made balalaikas, mandolins, guitars, and domras. There is evidence that Mykhailo Yerchenko made five banduras in the late 1930s. These instruments were probably diatonic Kharkiv style banduras. In time, more instruments Mykola Martynchuk made instruments at the factory.
In 1950, the factory began to manufacture pianos. Eventually it made banduras, based on construction plans by a Chernihiv bandura maker named Olexander Kornievsky. Ivan Hladlin—working with Oleksander Shulaikovsky, Mykola Martynuk, and Oleksiy Kilochytsky—continued this series until 1954.
In 1953 the factory began to manufacture 100 banduras a month. In 1954, they began to making banduras designed by Ivan Skliar. This serially made instrument had no mechanism, and the form was based on a design by Opanas Slastion.
Until then, a special bandura workshop existed in Kyiv—initially set up by Hryhory Paliyivetz—and after he was arrested, directed by Tuzychenko. After the war, Ivan Skliar became director and the factory primarily made instruments for the Kyiv Bandurist Capella and associated bandurist ensembles. To capitalize on the availability of experienced bandura makers and better conditions for drying and storing materials, they move to Chernihiv. They established a special workshop at the factory for these craftsmen. In 1955, they made their first concert banduras with mechanism. Initially, they made around 10 concert banduras a year, and customers had to have special written permission from the Ministry of Culture to buy one.
Skliar made a great contribution to Kyiv style bandura development at the Chernihiv factory, but other craftsmen contributed too. Oleksy Kilotsky developed a method of placing colored decoration around the side of the bandura. Bandurist Andry Omelchenko suggested the one-sided head in the early 1960s. D. Vasiliev designed the Taras Shevchenko bas-relief.
To earn hard currency, the factory began to manufacture instruments for export. In the late 1960s they received their first orders from North America. The Kyiv experimental workshop that moved to Chernihiv also made orchestral banduras and chromatic tsymbaly, also designed by Ivan Skliar with the help of Oleksander Nezovybat'ko. Instruments bore the signatures of the individual craftsmen who made them: Oleksander Shulkovsky, Oleksy Kilotsky, Iosif Mentej, Volodymir Mentej, Mykola Yeshchenko, and Sofia Zolotar. Oleksander Shlionchyk headed the experimental workshop.
In 1967 the factory began manufacturing a new Skliar design, the Kyiv-Kharkiv bandura. They made eight instruments without mechanisms. Due to Ivan Skliar's death in 1970, the manufacturing process for the instrument was not perfected and the factory dropped the Kyiv-Kharkiv bandura from further production.
By 1978, the factory had made 26000 pianos, 110,000 balalaikas, and guitars using over 34,000 cubic meters of wood. The manufacturing of banduras used 500 cubic meters of willow. By 1991, they had made around 30,000 banduras.
The use of willow in bandura backs and bodies caused problems for the factory, as this is not a commercial wood. It takes a willow 20–30 years to grow to maturity, so they had to find a substitute. In the 1970s the factory began making instruments with backs of poplar. These instruments, however, did not sound as good as previous instruments. They had to make the backs heavier because poplar tended to split. They continued to use willow, when they could get it, only in concert banduras.
In time, the experimental workshop manufactured 200 concert banduras a year. Each maker made 1.5-2 instruments a month. These instruments were better finished and made of better material. In the 1980s, they had 10-12 makers. Today there is only one craftsman, Petrenko.
In the period of economic restructuring, the factory shrank from 1600 workers to 68. It no longer manufactures musical instruments, but now[ when? ] makes coffins for an Italian firm. The production of pianos is also under question. Some authorities feel that Ukraine does not need a piano manufacturing facility. In 2008 it had become an automobile servicing centre.
Bandura manufacturing in Ukraine has come to a standstill. There are two makers in Chernihiv who still make banduras in their own homes and charge $850 US (1999) per instrument. In 2007, the price of a used Kyiv concert bandura made in the Chernihiv Musical Instrument Factory was around $2000 US.
All the banduras in the museum collection at the factory have been stolen. Some of the instruments were unique. Some have surfaced for sale with asking prices of $6000.
The following are the most common banduras made by the Chernihiv factory with their 1988 price in roubles in order to compare the instruments.
A bandura is a Ukrainian, plucked string, folk instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often referred to by the term kobza. Early instruments had 5 to 12 strings and similar to the lute. In the 20th century, the number of strings increased initially to 31 strings (1926), then to 56 strings - 68 strings on modern 'concert' instruments (1954).
The tsymbaly is the Ukrainian version of the hammer dulcimer. It is a chordophone made up of a trapezoidal box with metal strings strung across it. The tsymbaly is played by striking two beaters against the strings.
A banduryst is a person who plays the Ukrainian plucked string instrument known as the bandura.
The Poltava Bandurist Capella was vocal-instrumental ensemble who accompanied themselves on the multi-stringed Ukrainian bandura. It was initially established in February 1925, based on a male church choir who sang in the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Cathedral in Poltava under the direction of Fedir (Khvedir) Popadych. The ensemble was disbanded in October 1934.
Kobzarskyi Tsekh, literally "Kobzar guild", is an organization of kobzars, which existed from the 17th century in Ukraine.
The Kyiv Bandurist Capella is a male vocal-instrumental ensemble that accompanies its singing with the playing of the multi-stringed Ukrainian folk instrument known as the bandura.
Leonid Haydamaka has left his impression on the development of bandura art in the 20th century.
The Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus is a semi-professional male choir which accompanies itself with the multi-stringed Ukrainian folk instrument known as the bandura. It traces its roots to Ukraine in 1918 and has been based in the USA since 1949.
Kobzars were a unique class of musicians in Ukraine, who travelled between towns and sang dumas, a meditative poem-song. Kobzars were usually blind, and required the completion of a three-year apprenticeship in specialized Kobzar guilds, in order to be officially recognized as such. In 1932, on the order of Stalin, the Soviet authorities called on all Ukrainian Kobzars to attend a congress in Kharkiv. Those that arrived were taken outside the city and were all put to death.
Vasyl' Kostovych Yemetz was born in the village of Sharivka, 40 km from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Son of Kost' and Yevdokia (Kurakhovych). Married to Maria Hotra-Doroshenko. Virtuoso bandurist, founder and initial director of the Kobzar Choir in 1918 - the direct protégé of the Kiev Bandurist Capella and the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus.
The Prague Bandurist Capella was a musical ensemble formed in 1924 by Ukrainians living in Czechoslovakia featuring performers on the bandura.
Peter Deriashnyj is a Ukrainian Australian bandurist, composer of secular and sacred music, and choral conductor. He specializes in the Kharkiv style of bandura playing, but also plays folk and rock guitar.
A Kuban bandurists is a person who plays the Ukrainian plucked string instrument known as the bandura, who is from Kuban, a geographic region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River.
The "Trembita" Musical Instrument Factory manufactures stringed instruments. Since 1948 it has manufactured banduras, a Ukrainian instrument; it also produces guitars. The factory is located in Lviv, Ukraine.
The Honcharenko Brothers—Alexander (1913–2005) and Peter —became the dominant bandura-makers and designers in the Ukrainian diaspora.
The Leontovych Bandurist Capella was a male choir whose members accompanied themselves using a Ukrainian folk instrument known as a bandura. It was established in the displaced persons camps in Germany in 1946 and had an active performance schedule until 1949.
The Ukrainians in Kuban in southern Russia constitute a national minority. The region as a whole shares many linguistic, cultural and historic ties with Ukraine.
The XIIth Archeological Congress Kharkiv, 1902
Kharkiv-style banduras are banduras that allow for the playing of the Kharkiv style, i.e. using the left hand to play melodic figures primarily over the side of the instrument as opposed to the Kyiv style where the left hand primarily plays the basses. To allow for the added required dexterity of the left hand, the instrument is held parallel to the body of the player.
The Hnat Khotkevych Ukrainian Bandurist Ensemble is a vocal and instrumental Ukrainian folkloric performing ensemble in Sydney, Australia. It was founded in June 1964 by bandurist Hryhory Bazhul and since May 1971 was directed by Peter Deriashnyj.